Evangelical Christianity is engaged in a broad conflict
on many fronts. Internally, it is struggling over moral improprieties, doctrinal
lapses, and problems of self-identity. Externally, it is carrying on a lingering
battle with liberal Christianity and seeking to plug leaks in its doctrinal
structure that still come from that source. Moreover, new pressures are rising
from the occult and from various syncretistic movements combining elements
of paganism, Islam, Buddhism or other historic religions with Christianity.
In Western Europe and North America (and increasingly in other parts of the
world as well), modern secularism has become a major foe of evangelical
Christianity.

Each of these religious movements presents its own
conception of reality, and all differ from evangelical faith in doctrines
that lie at the very core of biblical Christianity.

Modern secularism sees the world without God; or if
it formally acknowledges the existence of some ill-defined "god," it squeezes
God and all religion to the periphery of life. Either way, a theoretical
atheism or a practical, functioning atheism views the universe as controlled
merely by natural or human forces. Logically, the exclusion of God from the
universe rules out the very possibility of miracles in any biblical sense
and yields a world view without incarnation, resurrection and judgment.
Unfortunately it is possible to give lip allegiance to theistic or even Christian
beliefs while choosing to live practically as though God does not
exist.

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By contrast, historic Christianity has always affirmed
that God lives and acts in this world. Evangelical faith insists on the reality
of divine action in creation, providence, revelation and redemption. History
is not a mindless process, but the unfolding of events through which the
triune God works out his purposes in the universe. The God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the God of the Bible is the sovereign Lord who
controls the destiny of the nations and guides the intimate details of personal
life. The hairs of our head are numbered, and God sees every sparrow that
falls.

Both the existence and the nature of God, therefore,
are fundamental questions. For atheism, whether it be theoretical or practical,
the issue is settled negatively in advance: the supernatural intervening
God who worked miracles, revealed himself in Jesus Christ and the Bible,
and is now active in and important to our daily lives, is
impossible.

World religions and modern occultic concepts of reality
introduce a strange and exotic dimension to this spiritual warfare. New
manifestations of spiritism, Satanism, demonology, the New Age movement,
various syncretistic cults, and other developments have set a much larger
and more complicated agenda for evangelical witness.

Conflicts have sometimes escalated into cataclysmic
confrontations between belief and unbelief and between good and evil. Such
confrontations have increased in intensity due to a resurgent evangelicalism,
now variously estimated to number between 30 million adherents (Christianity
Today poll) and 66 million adherents (Gallup's poll) in the United States
and 500 million worldwide (according to David B. Barrett).

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Neither evangelicalism nor its conflicts, both internal
and external conflicts, are new in the history of Christianity. Evangelical
faith has deep roots in the history of mainstream churches. It did not suddenly
rise from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century revivals. It can be traced back
through the Reformation and the ancient church to find its base in New Testament
Christianity.

Recently, however, some have declared that several
evangelical doctrines are theologically innovative and do not represent the
central traditions of the Christian church. Other observers have asked if
the evangelical movement has become so fragmented theologically that it no
longer has a coherent self-identity. In another vein, the moral failure of
a number of prominent evangelicals has been all too apparent. We are shamed
by our inconsistencies in living out the ethical values we profess, and we
recognize the need to confess our sins before God.

In the last decade of the twentieth century, a number
of these troubling issues have come into sharper focus. We realize that our
own house is not entirely in order. Many of our worst problems we have brought
on ourselves. Not only on the outside, but even within our own ranks, some
confusion exists as to exactly who evangelicals are.

Evangelical Affirmations seeks to clarify the character
of the evangelical movement and to affirm certain truths critical to the
advancement of the church of Christ. As we do so, we sadly confess that our
own sinful failures have often discredited our proclamation of those great
biblical truths. For our sinful lapses into sexual misconduct, neglect of
the poor, lack of accountability on the part of our leaders, and self-seeking
divisiveness, we repent before God and our neighbors.

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The following affirmations do not constitute a complete
doctrinal statement or a comprehensive confession of faith. Rather, they
represent evangelical truths that specially need to be asserted and clarified
in our day. We address these affirmations primarily to our fellow evangelicals
who, though confessing their personal commitment to these doctrines, have
sometimes raised questions as to their importance and as to how essential
they are to an authentic evangelical faith. Only secondarily have we addressed
these affirmations to non-evangelicals. In this latter case we are concerned
to clarify differences between evangelicals and non-evangelicals within the
Christian churches. We also wish to remove some of the caricatures of
evangelicalism the general public often holds and to state what evangelicals
really believe on issues growing out of the interaction of evangelicals with
modern culture.

1. Jesus Christ and the Gospel

We affirm the good news that the Son of God became
man to offer himself for sinners and to give them everlasting
life.

We affirm that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully
man with two distinct natures united in one person. The incarnation,
substitutionary death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ are essential
to the gospel. Through these events a gracious God has acted in time and
history to reach out to humanity and save all who believe in him.

Without Christ and the biblical gospel, sinful humanity
is without salvation and is left to create its own "gospels". These "gospels"
take various forms and many are set forth by so-called "Christian" sects
that omit the heart of the biblical gospel. Any

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gospel without the Christ of the Bible cannot be the
saving gospel, and leaves sinners estranged from God and under his
wrath.

We affirm that the people of God are commanded to
witness to the world concerning God's offer of redemption in Christ. The
gospel, working by the Holy Spirit, is powerful to transform the lives of
individuals lost in sin; provides believers with meaning for life on this
earth; empowers the church to accomplish Christ's work in the world; serves
as a leavening influence in society; and sustains the faithful in hope for
the life to come.

2. Creation and Fall

We affirm that the triune God created heaven and earth,
and made human beings, both male and female, in his own image. In his providence
God upholds all things and reveals himself through creation and
history.

Because of Adam's fall, all became sinners and stand
under God's righteous judgment. Human rebellion against God shows itself
today in many ways: such as in atheistic denials of God's existence; in
functional atheism that concedes God's existence but denies his relevance
to personal conduct; in oppression of the poor and helpless; in occult concepts
of reality; in the abuse of earth's resources; and in theories of an accidental
naturalistic evolutionary origin of the universe and human life; and in many
other ways.

As a result of the fall of the race into sin, human
beings must be born again to new life in Christ. They can be pardoned and
redeemed by faith in Christ alone.

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3. God as Source and Ground of Truth

We affirm that God the Creator is the source of truth
and the ground of the unity of all truth. By revelation God makes known the
truth concerning himself, the world, human sin and redemption. God's revelation
addresses the whole person-intellect, will and emotion. The Holy Spirit
accompanies his Word in convicting, instructing, nurturing, and empowering
his people so they learn to live in fellowship with God and other persons
in accordance with scriptural directives.

We reject irrationalistic theologies and philosophies
that compromise or deny objective truth. We also reject rationalistic
alternatives based on autonomous human reason. We recognize that as finite
and sinful creatures we do not have complete knowledge of God, and that "now
we know in part." We rejoice, nonetheless, that God reveals himself in creation
and the Bible.

We encourage Christian churches and Christian schools
to develop and implement disciplined instruction that relates the mind of
Christ to all knowledge, that emphasizes the compatibility of scientific
inquiry with biblical teachings about nature, and that challenges believers
to understand and apply a Christian view of the world to all of life.

4. Holy Scripture

We affirm the complete truthfulness and the full and
final authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures as the Word of God
written. The appropriate response to it is humble assent and
obedience.

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The Word of God becomes effective by the power of
the Holy Spirit working in and through in and Through the Scriptures the
Holy Spirit creates faith and provides a sufficient doctrinal and moral guide
for the church. Just as God's self-giving love to us in the gospel provides
the supreme motive for the Christian life, so the teaching of Holy Scripture
informs us of what are truly acts of love.

Attempts to limit the truthfulness of inspired Scripture
to "faith and practice," viewed as less than the whole of Scripture, or worse,
to assert that it errs in such matters as history or the world of nature,
depart not only from the Bible's representation of its own veracity, but
also from the central tradition of the Christian churches.

The meaning of Scripture must neither be divorced
from its words nor dictated by reader response.

The inspired author's intention is essential to our
understanding of the text. No Scripture must be interpreted in isolation
from other passages of Scripture.

All Scripture is true and profitable, but Scripture
must be interpreted by Scripture. The truth of any single passage must be
understood in light of the truth of all passages of Scripture. Our Lord has
been pleased to give us the whole corpus of Scripture to instruct and guide
his church.

5. The Church

We affirm that the church is a worshiping and witnessing
community of Christians who profess faith in Christ and submit to his authority.
Christ is building his church where his Word is preached and his name confessed.
He sustains his church by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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We affirm that the church is to provide for corporate
worship on the part of believers, the instruction of the faithful in the
Word of God and its application, and the fellowship, comfort, exhortation,
rebuke, and sharing in the needs of the entire body of Christ In a day of
lax doctrine and even more lax discipline, we specially affirm that Scripture
requires the defense of sound doctrine, the practice of church discipline,
and a call for renewal.

We affirm the mission of the church to be, primarily,
that of evangelism of the lost through witness to the gospel by life and
by word; and secondarily, to be salt and light to the whole world as we seek
to alleviate the burdens and injustices of a suffering world. Though some
are specially called to one ministry or another, no believer is exonerated
from the duty of bearing witness to the gospel or of providing help to those
in need.

We distance ourselves from any movement that seeks
to establish a world church on the premise of a religious pluralism that
denies normative Christian doctrines. Rather we encourage efforts that help
believers and faithful churches move toward fellowship and unity with one
another in the name of Christ, the Lord of the church.

6. Doctrine and Practice

We affirm the critical need to conjoin faith and practice.
To profess conversion without a genuine change of heart and life violates
biblical teaching and substitutes dead orthodoxy for a living
faith. Christian leaders, have a responsibility to serve as spiritual
role models and moral examples. Any disjunction between faith and practice
generates hypocrisy.

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We send forth an urgent call for the practice of holiness
and righteousness. Justification by faith must issue in sanctification. By
the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are to deny such characteristics
of a selfish nature as immorality, evil desire, and covetousness, to walk
in righteousness and integrity, and to practice justice and love at all times.
Purity of doctrine must be accompanied by purity of life.

7. Human Rights and Righteousness

We affirm that God commands us to seek justice in
human affairs whether in the church or in society. In accord with the
biblical call for righteousness, God's people should model justice in social
relationships and should protest, confront, and strive to alleviate injustice.
We must respond to the plight of the destitute, hungry, and homeless; of
victims of political oppression and gender or race discrimination, including
apartheid; and of all others deprived of rightful protection under the law.
We confess our own persistent sin of racism, which ignores the divine image
in humankind.

We affirm the integrity of marriage, the permanence
of the wife-husband relationship, the importance of the family for the care
and nourishment of children, and the primary responsibility of parents for
the instruction of their children.

We affirm that evangelicals living in democratic societies
should be active in public affairs. We advocate a public philosophy that
advances just government and protects the rights of all. In cooperation with
like-minded persons, we should support and promote legislation reflecting
consistent moral values. We condemn abortion-on-demand as a monstrous evil,
deplore drug and

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alcohol abuse, and lament sexual hedonism, pornography, homosexual
practices, and child abuse. We encourage evangelicals to exercise responsible
stewardship of their own personal wealth and the conservation of the earth's
resources.

8. Religious Liberty

We affirm the duty of state and society to provide
religious liberty as a basic human right. We deplore any oppression to maintain
or elicit religious commitments. We hold that civil government should not
arbitrate spiritual differences, and that neither church nor mosque nor temple
nor synagogue should use political power to enforce its own sectarian doctrines
or practices. We do not consider laws to protect individual rights, such
as the right to life or the freedom of anyone to confess his or her faith
openly in society, to be a sectarian position.

9. Second Coming and Judgment

We affirm that Christ will return in power and glory
to bring full and eternal salvation to his people and to judge the world.
This prospect of the Lord's return to vindicate his holiness and subjugate
all evil should accelerate our witness and mission in the world.

We affirm that only through the work of Christ can
any person be saved and be resurrected to live with God forever. Unbelievers
will be separated eternally from God. Concern for evangelism should not be
compromised by any illusion that all will be finally saved
(universalism).

We affirm the preaching of ultimate hope in and through
Christ. In an age of anxiety and despair, the blessed hope of
Gods

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ultimate victory is not only a warning of divine judgment, but
a wonderful hope that gives light and meaning to the human heart.

Conclusion: Evangelical Identity

Evangelicals believe, first of all, the gospel as
it is set forth in the Bible. The word evangelical is derived from the biblical
term euangelion meaning "good news." It is the Good News that God
became man in Jesus Christ to live and die and rise again from the dead in
order to save us from our sin and all its consequences. The Savior's benefits
and his salvation are bestowed upon us freely and graciously and are received
through personal faith in Christ. They are not conditioned on our merit or
personal goodness but are based wholly on the mercy of God.

Evangelicals are also to be identified by what is
sometimes called the material or content principle of evangelicalism. They
hold to all of the most basic doctrines of the Bible: for example, the triuneness
of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; the pre-existence,
incarnation, full deity and humanity of Christ united in one person; his
sinless life, his authoritative teaching; his substitutionary atonement;
his bodily resurrection from the dead, his second coming to judge the living
and the dead; the necessity of holy living; the imperative of witnessing
to others about the gospel; the necessity of a life of service to God and
human kind; and the hope in a life to come. These doctrines emerge from the
Bible and are summarized in the Apostles' Creed and the historic confessions
of evangelical churches.

Evangelicals have a third distinguishing mark. In
accordance with the teaching of their Lord they believe the Bible to be the
final and authoritative source of all doctrine. This is often

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called the formative or forming principle of evangelicalism.
Evangelicals hold the Bible to be God's Word and, therefore, completely true
and trustworthy (and this is what we mean by the words infallible
and inerrant). It is the authority by which they seek to guide their
thoughts and their lives.

These then are the three distinguishing marks of all
evangelicals. Without constant fidelity to all three marks, evangelicals
will be unable to meet the demands of the future and interact effectively
with the internal and external challenges noted in these
affirmations.

Evangelical churches also hold various distinctive
doctrines that are important to them; but nonetheless, they share this common
evangelical faith.

* * * * *
* *

We offer these Affirmations to God, to Christians
everywhere, and to our world. In sincere repentance and sorrow, we remind
ourselves of our own sins and failures; and we pray that God would renew
us in confessing Christ as our Lord and Savior in all that we say and
do.

Soli Deo Gloria

The Consultation on Evangelical Affirmations co-sponsored by
the National Association of Evangelicals and Trinity Evangelical Divinity
School, May 14 to 17, 1989.